Entangled To The CEO

Rainer’s [POV]

It was exhilarating to be in that jam-packed meeting.

With the chief financial officer standing at the head of the long conference table, I had flashbacks to college.

It felt just like the time my English literature class had to switch rooms due to a stink bomb going off in the lecture hall.

The conversation rippled and flowed so much faster with everyone tight together. I should have gone to more classes, I thought.

Then I remembered why I had skipped so often.

Tasha uncrossed her legs, then crossed them again, and a stab of lust hit me hard in the gut. It fit my playboy image, being so easily distracted by a great pair of legs.

Frankie, the obnoxious social media star sitting directly to my left, noticed my gaze and elbowed me again.

“Pretty hot for an ice queen,” he whispered. I told him to shut his trap, but that only made his grin wider.

Word was already traveling around the office via social media that a challenge had been issued.

It was ridiculous and juvenile to make bets about women and romantic entanglements, but I had always participated before, and there was no reason to change.

My image was working, it had gotten me this far, and I didn’t want to lose it now.

As if I could help myself. Tasha’s long leg bounced back and forth just on the edge of my vision.

She dressed conservatively, but just the hint of her black high heels had my blood on fire.

It was very easy to imagine pursuing Tasha, trailing my fingers up those long, silky legs. I glanced over and she gave me a puckered smile.

All I wanted to do was soften those rosy lips with a long, deep kiss. I had to look away before I started sweating.

I glanced over Frankie’s shoulder and saw the notes he was sending out. In his telling, Frankie was the bold challenger who had found someone who might be impossible, even for me. It was flattering, in a way, but I was embarrassed.

All around us, the team members were studying their thick packets, really understanding the reports and charts, and all I was good for was a side bet and a little entertainment.

“Shut it down, Frankie,” I said.

“Too late, man; it’s already out there,” Frankie said.

“I’ll let you know what the betting’s like later.”

“Later when I kick your ass?” I growled.

Frankie leaned back, unsure how serious I was, then he shook his head.

“You almost had me there. I bet you’re on this project just to get a little closer. Not that I can blame you.” I leaned forward so he could not ogle Tasha.

“Concentrate on your work. No wonder you still work downstairs.”

“All right, all right. I get it. There’s a time and a place. We’ll talk more at Benny’s Dive Bar later.”

Frankie flipped through his packet and found the page we were all reviewing. I focused on the page and tried to concentrate on what the CFO was saying.

It seemed ridiculous to me that all the reports and charts had nothing to do with the initial sales.

Everyone was in the meeting to hear how much money their app had made Hyperion.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Then again, as I looked around, I saw most people were engaged in the little details. They were taking notes, consulting with each other, and listening with rapt attention.

It occurred to me that Tasha’s team cared more about their work than about the bottom line. I sat back and observed them as if they were an alien species.

Tasha was leaning forward, marking copious notes in the margins of the packet, and cross-referencing things in her high stack of reports.

As she shuffled through papers, she interjected, and never once did the CFO object to her additions.

He nodded, agreed with her, asked her to elaborate for the rest of us, and shared the spotlight with her shining intelligence.

“So, you can see on page 37 that the extra time spent on beta-testing saved us when it came to bug checks and additional programming. We stayed focused, asked specific questions of our beta-testers, and took the time to consider all their input before we finished production. The wait saved us the extra work of undoing bad code and creating features that did not serve the customer,” Tasha said.

“Yes, exactly. Had Ms. Nichols not been able to convince us, the product launch would have been pushed back at least a month,” the CFO said. It was a turn-on how focused Tasha was in the meeting.

She missed the subtle compliments from our boss and dug deeper into her reports. Her copper-colored hair was tied back with a plain black ribbon and delicate wisps curled along her neck.

I found myself studying the creamy skin there instead of poring over the next page of tables and charts.

Even Frankie was listening, his lascivious bets forgotten as he heard Tasha’s tie-in with online discussion groups and techno-speculation.

She had a grasp on every angle of the project, and her team members appreciated how well she understood what they contributed.

I sent Frankie a quick text: Is the Ice Queen a good boss?

He ignored it until they moved on to the next page and started talking about print media.

Then he smiled and texted back: The best. Hot and a hard ass, just the way I like ’em.

I fought the urge to punch him and texted: Then why bet against her? Frankie laughed out loud and texted: My money’s on her all the way.

Not only will she break your heart, but she’ll be your boss before you know it. I elbowed him sharply and was rewarded with Frankie’s pained grunt.

Tasha glanced over with a flash of annoyance and then went back to her work. I leaned back again and continued to admire her as the meeting dragged on.

Tasha was ready with an answer to every question the CFO asked. It was clear that something great had happened with GroGreen, but no one wanted to jump ahead to the good news.

They wanted to take the time to study what they did, analyze what worked, and plan to implement it in future projects.

“We need a more coherent strategy for the worldwide release with fail-safes in place in case the server blinks out,” the CFO pointed out.

Tasha responded with a five-point plan for how they would fix the problem in the future, streamline the worldwide release, and time everything to fit the foreign markets. It felt good just sitting next to someone so talented.

Tasha Nichols was clearly at the top of her game and only getting better.

She had the respect of her team members, nods of approval from the top executives, and an organized air that made it feel like she could take over the world.

She’d already tried to brush me off multiple times, but the longer the meeting went, the surer I was that the smart move would be to hitch my wagon to her star.

Tasha Nichols was really on her way up. I was deep into strategizing my next move when a bright blonde caught my eye from across the table.

She smiled, but her eyes were icy, and she turned away sharply. I thought her name might have been Maureen, but it could have been Margaret.

Something with an ‘M.’ It took a minute, but I remembered a steamy little interlude we’d had a while back.

In a supply closet, on a stack of copier paper, just before New Year’s.

Now that it was spring, I could see why she was giving me cold looks.

Three suits down was another chilly glance, this time from a woman whose name I knew was Alice.

She had gotten so upset that when she finally cornered me in the upstairs cafe, she’d referred to herself in the third person.

“Alice deserved a callback.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek as my eyes traveled around the packed meeting and took stock.

It was no shock that Frankie and my other colleagues thought of me as a playboy.

There were at least five women in the conference room who I had romanced.

More than one looked at me with disdain, but the majority wetted their lips or played with the necklines of their blouses, surefire signs they’d be willing to give me another chance.

Normally, I would have spent the rest of the meeting selecting which beautiful woman to approach first, but today everything was off.

I was sick of my tomcat reputation and jealous of the respect Tasha was garnering.

Sure, I got plenty of slaps on the back from the higher-ups, but that was because they were my buddies.

We played golf, drank expensive whiskey, and bragged about our conquests. It turned my stomach.

I sat up and tried to focus on the packet again, but my stomach was clenched.

I pressed a hand to it, annoyed that I was letting Tasha Nichols throw me off my game.

She noticed my pained gesture and poured me a glass of water.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Just returning the favor,” she whispered.

Tasha shuffled through her papers again and located the answer to the CFO’s newest musing.

What she failed to see was the notice her small kindness had garnered.

Frankie was grinning and sending out messages again.

My former flings were narrowing their eyes at her. There were speculative glances from most of the team members.

Tasha and I were the only two junior executives in the room, sitting side-by-side, and sharing whispers. I suddenly felt like the tiny plastic man on the top of a wedding cake.

“Is it hot in here?” I asked Tasha.

She glanced up, her mind on the report in front of her. “Are you feeling all right?” “Rainer. This is a perfect time for us to segue to your press conference,” the CFO said.

“You did a great job fielding a range of questions, and I think you gave the consumers a good idea of what GroGreen can do for them. Sales saw a spike directly after you were done.”

Tasha’s back was ramrod straight, but she turned in her chair, like the rest of the team, and waited to hear what I would have to say.

“I didn’t do much but read the script Ms. Nichols and the team provided. Really good work, everyone,” I said.

Tasha’s frown told me she wasn’t buying it. “I think he wants you to reiterate that line you added, the one you thought might make a good slogan.”

“Well, we haven’t had a chance to meet about that,” I told Tasha.

I hoped to toss the spotlight back to her might lessen her frown, but it seemed to be making it worse.

Plus, it was uncharacteristic of me, and my colleagues would be sure to comment. I cleared my throat.

“I simply pointed out that the brilliant GroGreen app makes it easy to put Mother Nature on a schedule that fits our busy lives.”

“Yes, that’s it,” the CFO said.

“The bit about Mother Nature respecting our busy lives.” Tasha’s look darkened, so I spoke to up again.

“It’s more about how the respect is mutual now.” Tasha sniffed, unimpressed with the new direction.

She opted out of the conversation by flipping the page and starting up her note-scribbling again.

“I like it; I think it appeals to today’s busy consumer. They love the idea of gardens, they want a garden, but it’s a lot of work. GroGreen breaks it down into manageable tasks and syncs it to our daily calendars.” The CFO nodded his approval at me.

“I’m not sure it sounds all that respectful, sir,” Tasha said. She gripped her pen so hard her knuckles were white, so I knew she’d been struggling to hold her tongue.

“It sounds as if we’re bragging that our app can control the cycles of nature. We can’t just jump in and take credit for power we don’t have. The app is meant to encourage people to notice the seasons, work with them, and make them a healthy part of their lives. Not the other way around.”

“It’s perfect for the virtual gardening tool.” Frankie put down his phone and spoke up.

“GroGreen is realistic enough to give people an authentic experience while also making it available at any time.”

“Authentic means people would be growing their gardens,” Tasha corrected him.

“And the virtual gardening tool is meant as a side amusement, not the app’s main focus.”

“Games are big business,” I said.